“I’ll be right back. Mommy just needs to change Gavin’s diaper.” Little feet hit the floor behind me as I turn to walk towards my bedroom.
“I come too, Mama! Wait a me!”
I lay Gavin down on his change mat and turn to look at the stack of cloth diapers sitting on the dresser. “Which colour should Gavin wear?” I ask.
“Hmmmmm. BLUE!” Cameron answers, thrilled to be involved.
Being the big sibling is hard. All of a sudden a new baby enters the world and life completely changes. As soon as we brought Gavin home from the hospital, Cameron inserted himself into everything so that he would not be forgotten and it was my job as his mother to make him feel wanted and special and big. There was a transition that was taking place in our family. A movement from one child to two; from a family of three to a family of four. I tried to make that transition as smooth as possible.
But, families are kind of like cloth diapers. On the outside they are perfect and bright and beautiful, but it takes only minutes for things to get really stinky and uncomfortable. Messes happen. And when they do, they cannot be ignored. What matters is how we deal with them.
One of the biggest challenges about cloth diapers is the mental block we stumble upon when we think about how much work is involved. Stuffing, dumping, rinsing, washing, drying, stripping, and so on. It can be overwhelming before it even begins.
This overwhelming feeling isn’t uncommon. How often is the hardest part of anything just deciding to do it?
Sometimes it is easier when you get help.
Cloth diapers can bring the family together.
I have friends who have an agreement. She changes the diapers and he launders them. They each took on a cloth diaper duty so that the burden was lessened for them both. In our household, changing a cloth diaper is an event. Everyone (well, the kids and I) run into the bedroom and choose the diaper that we like best at that given moment. Sometimes we lay all the colours out and decide that way. Sometimes it takes five minutes to decide. Sometimes we know as soon as we get there. But we have fun. And in the process, my toddler is included in the daily events of his new baby brother.
As Cameron and I made diaper changing a game, I realized how simple this transition to two kids really would be. And it was. Families are strong and tough and absorbent.
It all comes out in the wash.
If you cloth diaper, how do you include the whole family? Does your better half have a diaper duty?
If you have more than one kid, what special way have you involved your older kids in the care of the younger ones?
The small print: I use Hipkiddo cloth diapers on Gavin. They’re an awesome cloth diaper choice if you’re looking for green, affordable diaper options. Be sure to Like Hipkiddo on Facebook and follow on Twitter to hear about chances to save and win. Hipkiddo provided cloth diapers for the purposes of this blog series but all opinions are my own.
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